


merry crisis and happy new year

by annrandano



Category: SKAM (Norway)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Party, First Meeting, Fluff, Humor, I tried to be funny I swear, M/M, Office AU, even loves christmas and lacks sense of fashion, instant crush, isak hates christmas and eats too many cookies, kind of soulmates, nothing bad happens, very brief mention of mental illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:14:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28486677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annrandano/pseuds/annrandano
Summary: “I’ve just had the best idea ever!” Magnus enters the office with the ugliest Christmas sweater ever designed and a smile that overpowers the sun.“No,” Isak states without taking his eyes off the screen of the computer.“Is it cat-related?” Jonas asks from his desk with a raised eyebrow.“Mags, are those actual gingerbread cookies on your sweater?” is all that Mahdi adds."We're going to throw a Christmas party!"*Or: Even wears a very ugly Christmas sweater and Isak doesn't really mind it.
Relationships: Even Bech Næsheim/Isak Valtersen
Comments: 14
Kudos: 85





	merry crisis and happy new year

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, happy new year <3 I've been playing with this idea for some good three weeks and I finally found a way to write it!
> 
> The original idea was inspired by episode 18 of the fifth season of The Office (Blood Drive)! The fic doesn't really have many things in common with the chapter (at all), but I was thinking of their office when I was writing about this one and how absurd everything always is!
> 
> Again, this is the most self-indulgent shit ever, but I have this absurd belief that people can feel it when I enjoy what I write and thus my feelings and good vibes can be reached in a much easier way. Who knows.
> 
> I'll leave you to it <3 (I'm secretly referencing Hamilton every time I say this)

“I’ve just had the best idea ever!”

Magnus enters the office with the ugliest Christmas sweater ever designed and a smile that overpowers the sun.

“No,” Isak states without taking his eyes off the screen of the computer he’s working with.

“Is it cat-related?” Jonas asks from his desk with a raised eyebrow. He’s drinking black coffee from a mug that says _merry crisis_ on it.

“Mags, are those actual gingerbread cookies on your sweater?” is all that Mahdi adds.

“First, don’t be a party pooper, Isak. Where’s your Christmas spirit?” Magnus cheerily passes by the reception desk and joins the boys.

“Lost it the day I was born,” Isak answers, but Magnus pats his shoulder and laughs as if Isak had just told him a funny joke, then keeps talking.

“No and yes to the other questions. Well, we could add some cat touches, but let’s say that’s not the main point. So,” he says, and sits on Isak’s desk, “this is my big idea.”

“Magnus, I don’t want to be rude, but-” Isak starts.

“He does mean to be rude,” Jonas smirks.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” he stresses glaring at Jonas, “but literally no one asked.”

“Asked about what?” comes a voice from the other side of the office. Vilde’s blonde head pops over the room divider. She’s wearing elf ears and hat and looks at them with curiosity.

“No one asked you either, Vilde!” Isak shouts, and tries to focus again on all the work he needs to finish before his shift ends and he can finally fucking go on holidays for a week. No one, absolutely no one, is going to ruin his last day of the year in the office.

“We’re going to throw a Christmas party!”

Or maybe yes.

Thirty minutes later, the only person actually working in the office is Isak. Or kind of, because _All I Want for Christmas is You_ is playing for the fourth time in a row and Mariah Carey’s high notes are really starting to cause him some brain damage, he’s sure.

“I don’t know how someone could allow this,” he whispers as Magnus and Mahdi drop a huge Christmas tree in the entrance. “Where did that even come from? It’s been literally thirty minutes; you can’t get a nice Christmas tree in thirty minutes.”

“Dude, chill. It’s not that big of a deal.” Jonas is now wearing a white beard and Santa’s hat and his _merry crisis_ mug is now filled with hot chocolate. He’s not actively helping, but he’s not working either. “It’s our last day before holidays, enjoy the chaos.”

“You know we have to clean all of that after we’re finished, don’t you? And Vilde is spreading fucking glitter everywhere. I don’t wanna be cleaning glitter off my ass for a whole week, Jonas. I really don’t want to.”

Jonas caresses his fake beard and stares at Isak with a thoughtful expression, not adding a single word.

“What?”

“I think you have something there on your nose,” he finally says with furrowed brows. Isak tries to look at his nose and starts rubbing it. “A little bit more to the left. No, no, not that much to the left.”

“Is it gone now?”

“Yeah, dude, it was starting to turn Grinch green, but it’s gone now, no worries.”

“Fuck you, I can’t even trust my friends.”

And Jonas laughs so hard that Isak has trouble to keep a smile off his face. He doesn’t hate _hate_ Christmas, he just doesn’t really enjoy the burst of positivity and sugary comments and wild shopping and thousands of lights everywhere and glitter and trees and more lights. That’s it. He likes to see how his friends get happy and enthused, but he’s fine looking at it from a distance as long as he is invited to lunches and dinners and is given cookies.

So he can really say that the office has turned from a sloppily decorated space to a sort-of-decent Christmas office, if he liked Christmas. Eva and Noora are finishing up the tree with lights and a tiny shiny star on top, while Vilde is still spreading Christmas garlands and _more_ lights with Chris. Someone has also been sensible enough to hide the tiny Christmas tree that Chris made out of the green candy wrappers that she ate. There is suddenly a gingerbread house and a dish filled with cookies on the reception desk and, of course, _more lights_.

“Jonas!” Magnus shouts from the top of a trembling ladder as he tries to hang mistletoe all around the place. “Bro, can you hold the ladder please?”

Jonas and Isak roll their eyes at the exact same moment, but Jonas stands up from his chair and moves toward Magnus.

“Gotta make sure he gets to kiss someone before he falls and loses consciousness.” And he takes another sip of his chocolate as Isak actually laughs. Working today is really going to be an impossible task, so he finally turns the computer off and sneakily steals one of the cookies from the reception desk when he thinks that no one is watching. He has a reputation to keep and eating Christmas cookies might not help with that.

He turns around and heads for his desk before anyone spots him.

“If you put on these reindeer horns I won’t tell anyone that you like Christmas cookies,” someone mutters in his ear and makes him jump out of his skin.

“Fuck, Sana, stop doing that,” he whispers out of air with a hand on his chest when he turns around. Sana looks at him with a forced smile and a reindeer diadem in her hand. “Why would I wear _that_?”

“Vilde is forcing everybody in the office to wear Christmas things and I think they fit you.” She pushes the diadem to Isak’s chest. “Horniness and all that.”

“And why aren’t you wearing any?” He pushes the diadem back.

“I told Vilde that my believes are contrary to them.” She shrugs and Isak raises a questioning eyebrow. “My believes as in: “I don’t believe I wanna look that ridiculous today, thanks”.”

And with that, she pushes the diadem back to Isak's chest and takes advantage of Isak’s shock to let it go. She winks and turns around.

“Sana!” Isak shouts.

“Gotta force Mahdi to wear an awful Christmas sweater, sorry.”

And Isak is left staring at the reindeer horns on his hand. No wonder why Vilde chose Sana for the work. He puts the reindeer horns just in case she passes by again.

* * *

Isak is by the water dispenser at the entrance trying to water down all the cookies he’s eaten when a woman about his age approaches him with a shy smile. She’s fully dressed up as an elf and definitely doesn’t work at their office, but she still looks familiar.

“Hi, excuse me?” she almost whispers. “I’m Emma, from the paper company upstairs. Is this…” she looks down to a small paper card she’s holding. “Magnus’ Christmas Party?”

“What?” Isak frowns, and he must be making a funny face, because the girl is burning red. She clumsily hands Isak the card she’s holding.

“I… This is the right office, isn’t it?”

It’s an invitation. One of the sides is red (Christmas red) and the other is white and has a green text with a ridiculous font framed with candy canes. It essentially says that everyone who works in the building is officially invited to their party. Etiquette: Christmas outfit. Extra: some food, please.

Isak’s frown deepens. He doesn’t really need to make estimations to guess that, out of a building of ten floors, a lot of people are expected to come. He stares at the carefully designed and printed piece of cardboard and sighs.

“Magnus…” he mutters through gritted teeth.

“Sorry?” The girl, Emma, is staring at him with a blush, still not discouraged by Isak’s reactions.

“Yeah, yeah, come in.” He pinches the bridge of his nose, and the girl enters the office as she mutters a very soft _thanks_. More people arrive after her and Isak takes it as his cue to leave or to kill Magnus, whichever happens before. He can already picture him saying that inviting that many people was his master plan to go down on some girl and it makes Isak physically sick. He mentally counts to ten and gulps down all the water he has left before he regrets anything. He can’t leave the building until he’s finished with work, which is not going to happen until five more hours go by. But he can leave the office, at least for fifteen minutes.

He’s about to leave when he sees an angel at the door. A literal angel. There’s a tall, blond guy with the bluest eyes ever and the prettiest face and the longest legs and the brightest smile walking straight up to him. He’s wearing soft and tiny white angel wings paired up with a very fake halo, but Isak has to check twice to make sure he’s an actual person, and still then he is not sure because he also has his hair styled into the most perfect quiff. He’s also wearing a sweater that almost rivals Magnus in ugliness, and Isak has never had such a strong conflict of interests. Because he’s not a Christmas fan, but the guy looks too cute in that outfit. He guesses he’ll need to thank Christmas for once.

The guy stops right in front of him and smiles softly.

“Nice reindeer horns, I love them!”

Isak has completely forgotten about the diadem, and takes it off his head so quickly that he almost stabs himself in the eye with one of the horns. He’s mortified as he opens and closes his mouth in a failed attempt to wave the boy hello without telling how amazingly gorgeous he is and hence turning into an erupting volcano, but the guy just laughs and reaches out with a hand.

“I’m Even. I work in the art studio on the seventh floor.” His eyes crinkle and shine and Isak is positive he needs more water despite he’s already drunk about a liter. He somehow manages to shake his hand back.

“I-Isak,” he stutters and he keeps holding into his hand and looking into his eyes.

“Nice to meet you, Isak,” and he smiles again and Isak wonders if his hands are sweaty. They probably are so he finally lets go and dry them in his jeans. Maybe Sana was right about the horns after all.

“Me too. I mean… You too. Nice to meet you too.”

And Even laughs again and Isak swears that his voice sounds like carol bells and it’s a bit intoxicating because Even is staring at him back as intensely as Isak is staring at him.

“I… I’m gonna go in now,” Even says and points towards the office with a finger. “Are you coming?”

He doesn’t know what part of his brain has finally melted, but he’s unable to speak, so he nods and follows Even into the office. Guess he won’t be leaving soon.

* * *

They somehow end in the conference room, now turned into the official buffet of the venue. The chairs and tables of the room have been pushed to the walls so there’s an empty space in the middle of the room where people can chill and eat and drink as if they were in an actual party instead of in an office. An office where they are not supposed to be working anymore for the day, if the unanswered calls and the switched off computers are proof enough.

“Cookie?” Even offers Isak a dish filled to the rim with more cookies and Isak smiles politely and shakes his head. If he eats one more cookie he’s going to puke. “Are you sure? They’re delicious, I bought them myself.

“If I eat one more cookie you’ll have to carry me out of here on your back.”

“Well, that doesn’t seem to be that bad of a plan,” he says as he reaches for a cookie for himself. Isak’s mouth falls open, but Even keeps chewing so naturally on the gingerbread man he’s holding that Isak wonders if he heard him wrong. Then he meets his eyes with a soft smile. “Because I’m an angel and all that, isn’t that supposed to be my job?”

“Sure,” Isak adds when he snaps out of it. “because you’re an angel.”

And Even just… winks, looks at his lips and keeps eating the cookie.

And Isak is defeated. So, so defeated.

“So,” he clears his voice, too aware of how awkward he’s making everything feel. He struggles to find anything to say that will make the conversation flow. He can sense Even’s eyes on him as he checks his shoes one more time, as if Even was waiting for him to say something. Then, before Isak can even speak (he wasn’t going to either way), he disappears into the crowd.

Isak heart races and those few seconds between Even leaving him and Even resurfacing again to meet him are probably the closest thing that Isak has been to heart failure. But then Even offers him a glass of water with a smile.

“Last New Year’s Eve I ate so much food that I fell asleep right before the clock struck midnight, so I officially started the year with a nap.”

Isak feels the relief bubbling in his chest and a soft chuckle escapes his mouth when he pictures Even sleeping on a sofa, all dressed-up and perfect quiff and all.

“And no one woke you up?” he smiles.

“My mum thought I was better off sleeping, so I basically stood all my friends up.”

“Well, last year Magnus there,” he points at Magnus, who’s carefully placing himself under one of the many mistletoes he’s hung all over the place as he speaks with a woman with a tiny Christmas tree on the head, “forgot he had food on the oven and celebrated the new year with a bunch of firefighters.”

“No way.” His eyes widen and his mouth hangs open.

“Nothing serious happened, but we spent the first day of the year cleaning his kitchen.”

“Well, I know who to call if I ever burn my kitchen.”

“I thought you were an angel. Aren't angels not supposed to play with fire?” 

Even eyes him with surprise for some seconds and then breaks out laughing so scandalously that Isak finds himself laughing along. All the awkwardness has seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye. 

"That's the cheesiest line ever, oh my god, Isak." 

Isak licks his lips out of pure nervousness, but he decides that, if there was something to lose he's already lost it, so he keeps talking. 

"But it worked?" 

"Yeah, it kind of worked." 

Five minutes later, when their hands accidentally bump when they both reach for salty crackers at the same time, Isak doesn’t take it away immediately. 

* * *

“Why are you dressed up as an angel?” Isak mutters in Even’s ear. The music is not that loud, but he has an urgent need to be that close to Even. He sets a hand on Isak’s waist delicately, as if he wanted to tell him that he likes the proximity too.

And it’s not as if Isak doesn’t know why Even came as an angel, he’s well-versed in the Christian tradition, but he wants to know the process that went into it. He wants to know how Even got wings and a halo with such a short notice. He wants to know why he combined it with such an ugly sweater. He wants to know everything about Even.

But Even just chuckles and scratches his neck shyly.

“Don’t laugh at me.”

And that’s the exact opposite reaction of what Isak was expecting.

“I would never, I swear,” he answers with a hand on top of his heart.

“I’m reusing my Juliet costume from Halloween.”

He says it and blushes, as if it’s the most obvious thing ever. And it’s endearing, it really is, but Isak can’t be more clueless about it.

“I see,” he states.

“You see?” Even asks with a raised eyebrow and a funny face.

“I have no fucking idea of what you're talking about.”

“Isak!” Even howls with big eyes. “Baz Luhrmann? _Romeo + Juliet_? 1996?”

Isak shakes his head.

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

Even wets his lips and claps his hands together as if he’s getting ready to give a very important speech and Isak was the only expecting audience.

“First, let’s say that I’m dressed up as Gabriel, the archangel, to make things simpler. Second, you and I need to have a very serious talk about cinema.”

“What about cinema?” Isak asks with narrowed eyes.

“Isak! You can’t walk around the world without knowing Baz Luhrmann nor his films. That’s honestly the worst crime.”

“Well, I don’t recall being arrested for that before.”

“Don’t speak too soon, you never know when the cinema police will strike.”

Even gets even closer and Isak shivers.

“Is that a threat?”

“Isak, I’m an angel, I don’t threaten people. It’s just a piece of advice.”

Isak just nods and lets Even speak passionately about Luhrmann and takes and angles and music for about half an hour. And maybe they agree to watch the film together.

“Just because I don’t wanna get arrested,” he adds.

“Of course, we need to make sure you don’t end up in jail for your crimes, Isak.”

* * *

“What do you mean you don’t like Christmas?” Even asks indignantly as Isak confesses his second most unforgivable crime of the day, according to Even. “It’s literally one of the best times of the year. Tons of food, pretty decorations, presents, Christmas spirit…”

Isak sighs and rolls his eyes.

“I guess you are one of _those_ people.”

“Excuse me? What do you mean with “one of those people?” Even crosses his arms on his chest and does his best to repress a smile.

“One of those people who sings Christmas carols whenever they have the chance and no matter who they are with.”

Even gasps. He’s liking the game too much, because he pokes Isak’s chest with a finger and gets overwhelmingly closer.

“And what if I am? Either way, I’m pretty sure that you’re one of those other people.” Isak is positive that if he speaks he’s going to laugh, so his only answer is a raised eyebrow. Even reads him perfectly, because he keeps talking. “One of those other people who can’t even bother to wrap presents nicely and has to ask his mother for help.”

Isak knows it wasn’t on purpose, but Even’s comment sobers him up completely. He has unknowingly hit a sore spot, and when Isak notices that he’s worrying his lower lip and not paying attention to Even’s jokes anymore, Even has noticed too.

“Sorry if I said something wrong,” he quickly adds with a panicked expression. “I-I didn't mean to…”

“No, no, don’t worry. You didn’t know it,” Isak rushes. He looks Even in the eye and mutters words that he wouldn’t admit to anyone after knowing them for three hours. “We kind of have a weird relationship, it’s much better now, but the past years have been a bit… bumpy. I didn’t really get the chance to ask her for help with wrapping presents.”

Even looks at him and nods. Not with pity or compassion or confusion. With understanding.

“She…” Isak continues, not because he feels forced to or thinks he owns Even an explanation, but because he almost never gets this chance to be honest with someone who’s not judging him for his past or present. “She got diagnosed with schizophrenia and is on meds and therapy now, but before that everything was a little bit confusing and scary. It… still is, for everyone, I guess, but much less. Things get better.”

He’s never admitted that to anyone but Jonas and he suddenly feels too heavy with the realization. He tries to laugh and fill the silence, that suddenly feels too overwhelming, and ends up looking at his feet again to avoid Even’s eyes.

“I don’t know why I said that. I… Uhm, sorry if I made things weird. Party pooper, huh?”

He looks up to apologize again, but when he does he can’t understand Even’s look. Again, it’s not what he was expecting. Maybe he should stop expecting things at all, because they don’t seem to be applying to Even. He’s examining Isak curiously, carefully with his head tipped to a side and the beginning of a word in his lips. A word that never makes his way out because Isak smiles and says he needs to go to the bathroom.

* * *

The office is not huge, but it’s not that small that Isak can’t find a place to hide for some minutes (even though the place is packed with people and food and lights and Christmas spirit. And Even.)

So instead of going to the bathroom, he sneaks into the reception desk, which turns out to be tall enough to hide a sitting person inside. He nurses his third glass of mulled wine. Someone thought at some point that alcohol was allowed in the party and no one complained, so Isak went with the crowd. He could really use some alcohol.

He can’t believe he’s let out all that rambling about his mother and his feelings in front of Even. He has literally known him for three hours and has told him things that he hasn’t even told Jonas, and he has probably scared the hell out of him so much that his next best option is running away from the party before he has to face him.

Even is not only gorgeous. He’s funny and kind and interesting and Isak would probably hear him talk for hours without getting tired. He doesn’t even mind that he’s a Christmas lover. Or not so much. They’ve been talking relentlessly for hours, have flirted, have opened up (more Isak than Even) and have laughed so much. And maybe, _perhaps_ , Isak has looked at his lips more than the morally accepted time.

It’s only been hours and he’s already gone, so he won’t stand a chance if he comes out of the reception desk and Even tells him that they had a nice chat but that Isak was too intense, too raw. That he regrets intertwining their fingers together and making Isak dance and laugh and placing his hand on his waist at least four times and putting a loose curl behind Isak’s ear. He’s going to regret that and Isak is not ready to hear it.

It’s been too long since he’s had feelings this intense. Even worse, it’s the first time that he’s had feelings this intense this quickly, and he honestly doesn’t know what to do with them and it’s probably too late. Besides, what if Even is not into men and he just really likes Isak as a friend? What if Even is into men but he’s not into Isak? What if…?

“Is this desk a new metaphor for the closet? I thought you were already out.”

“Sana, fuck, I told you to stop doing that!” he shouts in a whispers as his friend sits next to him on the floor.

“It looked like you were having a proper breakdown, so I thought I’d find out why you’re hiding here instead of having fun with that blond guy from the art studio.”

Isak looks at her, but she’s calmly taking sips of her juice and not even looking at Isak.

“What?”

“I thought I told you to wear the reindeer horns, Isak,” she simply adds as she stares at the discarded diadem on Isak’s lap. He’s been carrying it on his hand the whole party.

“Sana!”

“Okay. I’m sorry to break it out to you, but neither of you are being precisely subtle.”

Isak instantly blushes and the temperature is suddenly unbearable. He tries to take a sip of the wine to avoid talking, but he chokes on it and he’s overcome with a fit of coughs. Sana pats him delicately on the back and waits patiently until he can breathe again and say something.

“Isak, breathe,” she scolds him. “I’m serious, what’s wrong?”

Isak searches for Sana’s eyes to check that she’s in fact not joking and is worried about Isak’s absurd gay panic in the middle of a Christmas party that he didn’t want to attend. And it looks like she’s not. It’s absurd, Sana and him didn’t talk really much at first, but they seem to share some opinions on how they perceive life and relationships and without even noticing, they started to understand each other better than they suspected at first. Much better than other people would suspect. And even though Sana sometimes scares the hell out of him, he finds himself opening up to her (and the other way round) more usual than not and with so much ease.

“Do you really wanna have this conversation?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s my preferred topic of conversation, but I would rather be here talking to you than listening to Vilde’s detailed Christmas schedule for the holidays.”

“You do have a point,” Isak half smiles. “Haven’t you thought about wearing a Santa’s hat?”

“Straight to the point, Valtersen. I still can find another person to talk to.”

Isak nods and realizes that the anxiousness that was creeping up his chest has mostly subsided.

“I guess I got scared.”

“Of what?” Sana tilts her head to a side.

“Feelings?” He shrugs because he honestly doesn’t know.

“His or yours?”

“What do you mean “his”?”

Sana looks at him with a raised eyebrow and if looks could kill he’d be dead.

“Isak,” she says slowly, “not that I enjoyed the view, but he was eating you with his eyes. Can you get out of your head for once? As I said, neither of you were being subtle.”

Isak groans and buries his face in his hands. He had been so enthralled by their connection that he had forgotten that there were dozens of people surrounding them.

“It’s just… I guess I’m not that used to opening up this easily. To connecting this quickly with someone in such… an honest way?” he tries.

“And is that bad?”

“I don’t know, Sana, aren’t you supposed to tell me?” he asks defeated and Sana shrugs.

“I’m just here to offer moral support, I don’t have your answers. Tell me, does it feel bad to be opening up with Even?”

Isak opens his mouth to speak, but Sana interrupts him.

“Don’t lie to me, Valtersen, I can tell when you are.”

So Isak drops his shoulders and takes a deep breath.

“It doesn’t feel bad,” he mutters, and surprises himself when he realizes it’s true.

“And then what’s the problem?”

Isak doesn’t word his thoughts, that would be too much, that would mean exposing his deepest self out loud and he doesn’t know if he’s ready to hear that truth. Still, it resonates so loudly in his thoughts that he thinks that Sana is able to hear it. _It makes me feel so vulnerable. It's scary_. 

And Sana must indeed have heard it, she must have, for she keeps talking as if she’s following the conversation.

“I felt like that when I started talking to Yousef.” She avoids Isak’s eyes now. “I have always been around him, he’s one of my brother’s friends, but we barely spoke. And when we did… It felt like we knew each other already, and I found myself telling him things I didn’t dare to tell my friends. And I felt like you, too. But it was okay, you don’t need to know everything nor to expect something specific. And, like me, you know better than anyone who you can trust. We don’t trust by chance, be it two hours of two years after we meet someone.”

There’s an awkward silence between them that extends for too many seconds, and then someone clearly shouts Sana’s name in the background between laughs. She licks her lips and smiles.

“And that’s my cue to leave.” She stands up and takes another look at Isak. “That was confidential information, you better keep it that way if you don’t want to suffer the consequences.”

And with that, she leaves.

* * *

Isak manages to get out of his excellent hiding place three failed attempts and ten minutes later and, of course, the first person that he’s faced with is Even. He’s standing casually next to the reception desk and Isak suspects that maybe it wasn’t that good of a hideaway after all. He actually wonders how Sana took so long to find him.

Even is still wearing his angel wings and his awful sweater and, if possible, Isak believes he looks even more gorgeous than twenty minutes ago. And he hasn’t left, and he is not looking at Isak as if he regretted everything either. And even though he’s only two steps apart he waves hello at him and smiles shyly. 

“Hi,” he mutters, “nice weather, huh?”

Isak leans on the counter and doesn’t even bother to hide the smile. And to the question: “who even blushes because of a comment on the weather”, the answer is “Isak”, especially if Even is the one speaking.

“Kind of cold and snowy, isn’t it?”

And Even takes a step toward him.

“No one said my kind of nice weather was warm and sunny.”

Isak worries his lower lip and takes a deep breath. He can smell Even’s perfume and he can’t discern if that helps him relax or makes him more nervous. But his quiff is not that perfect anymore and his wings are kind of crooked and his sweater is still awful. Suddenly, he stops being Even the hot, nice guy from the art studio and turns more into Even the nice, dorky guy who he has spent all the day with. And Isak is a little bit less afraid.

“I’m sorry if I made things weird, I didn’t mean to,” he almost whispers.

“I’m sorry if I’ve been too intense.”

“You haven’t been too intense!” Isak exclaims almost indignantly.

“Well,” Even replies with a grin, “and you didn’t make things weird, but we still have the need to apologize, don’t we?”

Isak feels how his heart does a somersault in his chest and then probably a whole acrobatic routine and a perfect landing and there’s probably someone clapping in the background as well.

“I… Thank you, really. I don’t usually… Well, that,” he laughs awkwardly and Even’s eyes shine and crinkle when he looks at him again. “What?”

“Grab your coat and your scarf.”

“Where are we going?”

“Shhh, trust me. Come on.”

Even holds him by the hand (so warm) and guides him out of the office once they both grab their coats, still not letting go. And, instead of down to the street, they go up, up to the rooftop. And it’s cold and snowy but, again, no one said that had to be a bad thing (not when Even’s hand is still warm in Isak’s).

The rooftop is… a regular rooftop. Isak has actually never been there before, but Even opens the door and guides them both through it so naturally that Isak guesses that he has spent quite some time there. He can perfectly imagine it, Even sitting on the huge boxes watching the sun set and looking for inspiration.

Even finally lets go of his hand and gets closer to the edge, back turned to him. The sun has already set and the only source of light is the moon, that makes the snow piled up on the roof even ghostlier.

“I usually come up here when the office gets too much,” he says, still not looking at Isak.

“I should come up more often, then.”

Even then turns around and Isak is enthralled by the vision. His hair rocked by the breeze, his cheeks red because of the cold and a cloud of breath coming out of his lips. Isak wonders if he looks like that too, if Even is looking at him and thinking: I could kiss him, right here, right now. If when their eyes meet he says: I feel like I know you from a different place, a different time. A different universe.

He wonders.

“For a moment there I didn’t understand why you told me about your mother. It felt… like too much of a coincidence,” Even confesses out of the blue and Isak frowns. “But then I thought: maybe he’s feeling it too. The trust, the feeling that we already know each other, right?”

He smiles, but Isak can see in his eyes the same fear that he was struck with before. The fatal collision between what the head says and the heart wants.

“I did,” he whispers and Even nods. “I do.”

“Weird, huh?” he says and Isak wants to tell him that it’s fine to be afraid and to not expect and to not act at all. He wants to sound as wise as Sana, but at the end he says:

“Weird as fuck, but it’s fine.” 

Even’s smile instantly softens and he ends up chuckling and moving closer to Isak.

“You keep saying the opposite of what I’m expecting.”

Isak shrugs.

“I’m that cool,” he grins and Even huffs and gets even closer.

“Are you, now?” He grabs both of Isak’s hands again and hides them in the pockets of his own coat. Isak hums and holds onto Even.

“You know, I’m gonna quote now a wise woman's advice and that might make me less cool, but: we don’t need to expect anything or absolutely know everything that will happen. We can just… worry about the next minute. We can just do that.”

“That’s chill.”

“That’s chill.”

“And you still look cool. Quoting is cool, Isak.”

They stare at each other’s eyes for some seconds and Isak let his head fall on Even’s shoulder carefully with a soft sigh. Even squeezes their hands together and sighs too.

“What a weird day,” he mutters against his coat.

“Weird as fuck.” They laugh, and it’s okay.

* * *

“Even, I swear, you don’t need to help us clean this mess.”

A couple of hours later almost everybody has left and, just like Jonas and Isak predicted, it looks like a huge Christmas bomb made of glitter, lights and leftover cookies has exploded in the office. The only ones still there, of course, are the ones that were there at the very beginning. And Even, that for some reason seems to enjoy cleaning as long as he is next to Isak.

“Don’t be silly, it’s fine. And Magnus is super funny, right Mags?” he shouts at Magnus, who’s almost passed out on a chair. Magnus raises a thumb and smiles.

“Matching sweaters, what a fantasy,” he murmurs.

“We always end up like this,” Isak complains. “Magnus plans a party, gets everything messy and dirty and when it’s time to clean up he mysteriously is too tired to function. You can’t fool us!” 

But in those few seconds Magnus seems to have fallen asleep. Isak sighs and takes a wire of golden lights off the window with resent as Even laughs behind him.

“Fucking Magnus and his Christmas party,” he mutters, but when he takes the next wire of lights a big cloud of golden glitter rains on him. Isak takes a good, deep breath before coming down the chair he’s standing on. 

“What is it?” Even asks when Isak passes by him shaking his head non-stop.

“Glitter,” he moans. “So much glitter.”

Even stands and buries his hand on his hair, carefully shaking the strands to get rid of the golden glitter. The touch is so soft that Isak’s cheeks burn. It only takes a few seconds, but then Even is blushing too. They’re both so dumb he can’t believe it.

“I don’t think that’s going to come off easily,” he says avoiding his eyes. “But… gold glitter kind of looks good on you.”

“Even, no,” he snaps. “My reputation.”

“And do you know what looked super good on you as well? Those cute reindeer horns.” Even reaches for the diadem that’s now laying abandoned on the floor next to them.

“Even, no,” he warns again as he takes a few steps back and Even gets closer.

“Oh, come on. It won’t kill you, and I wouldn’t have talked to you if you weren’t wearing them.”

“You know as good as me that that’s a lie,” he points his index finger at him threateningly, but it basically does nothing, because Even pouts and tips his head to a side and looks him in the eye and Isak can’t fucking say no to this. Holy shit. “Five seconds. Five seconds and I want it out of my head and out of my sight and out of the office.”

“Yes, sir,” Even says with a smile and proceeds to put on the diadem on Isak’s glittery hair. “Cute.”

Isak blushes so hard that probably all his colleagues can see his red face. More than five seconds later, Even has taken at least ten pictures and Jonas is making fun of him and Sana is rolling her eyes with a fond smile and Isak pretends that he’s bothered, but he really isn’t.

He takes a couple steps toward Even to accuse him of high treason when Magnus wakes up again and points at the ceiling over their heads with a smile.

“You still need to take that one off.”

When they both look up at the same time, there’s a branch of mistletoe hanging over their heads. Isak’s mouth falls open. What part of “Christmas hater” was not clear when whoever was in charge of his life wrote this whole day? He looks back at Even, who is smiling like he can read his mind at that precise moment.

“You know,” he laughs, because Isak is still wearing those reindeer horns and must be making a face, “we don’t really need to.”

“Fuck it all, Even, fuck it all,” and he grabs him softly by the collar of his very ugly sweater, rubs their noses together (quickly so no one sees) and kisses him so, so tenderly that he probably gives them both a sugar rush. He can feel Even smiling into the kiss and holding his face carefully and, that alone, makes everything worth it. He’ll take revenge on his friends later.

  
  


* * *

[21:18] Even ♥:  
Lunch tomorrow at 2 and then we watch Romeo + Juliet at mine?

[21:18] Isak:  
Only if we pretend it’s not Christmas anymore

[21:18] Even ♥:  
Isak, you can’t ask me that, it’s part of who I am

[21:20] Isak:  
...

[21:20] Even ♥:  
Okay, but only if you watch The Get Down with me later

[21:20] Isak:  
Deal

[21:21] Even ♥:  
Nice <3

[21:21] Isak:  
<3

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the ride! It turned more intense than I planned at first but *shrugs* I like my things intense and with many feelings.
> 
> Infinite thanks to Mar for being always there giving me advice and support and, of course, betaing this. Writing this was much easier thanks to you<3
> 
> As usual, kudos to you for reading, I appreciate it a lot <3 I hope 2021 behaves and all of you have an amazing year! *hugs*


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